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Saw a Super Sniper made by Nikko Stirling

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wcat View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wcat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Saw a Super Sniper made by Nikko Stirling
    Posted: January/26/2009 at 18:22
Like the title said, I saw some pictures of a 10x42 Sniper scope which is an EXACT replica of the Super Sniper sold by SWFA, only difference is, it's written Nikko Stirling on the ocular bell.
Anyone have any clue if NS imported the SS scopes somewhere?

I can show you the pics if need to

Thanks


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Urimaginaryfrnd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 18:28
Have you ever seen a fake Rolex?  If you saw one do you think it would have been made the same place as a real Rolex? 
We love photos show us what you have.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike McDonald Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 18:38
Buy one of the NIkko's and throw it to the ground.............  hard .  Do it like you hate it. 
It will not survive the event, although my supersnipers have........................ and we haven't even touched on glass, resolution, repeatability, survivability, warranty.......................
 
It ain't a Supersniper if you didn't get it from SWFA.


Edited by Mike McDonald - January/26/2009 at 18:39
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rancid Coolaid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 19:19
Looks very similar, let us know how it hold up.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote donlipa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 20:33
Looks like someone is trying to ride on the SS coat tails.  On that scope where does it say it is made?  If it says Made in Japan then things would get interesting.  I am betting it is made in China though. 
I'm just another internet blowhard with too much time on my hands for the past couple weeks so take my comments with a grain of salt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike McDonald Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 20:41
NIkko's have been around for some time.  Not a stellar reputation.
As you get into optics you'll find lots of stuff that should have been copyrighted like knobs and dials never was, and is easiliy copied or bought from the same source another mfg would use.  Take a look at the twisties on some Zeiss stuff.  Using that same logic that also must be a SS scope.
And if the chinese are doing it, patents, copyrights, and such are gone baby gone.  Confiscious say anyone believe confuscious prove W.C. Fields was correct in his observations.
 
But then on the other hand if you flip it over and is says PPO on the sticker ( Pan Pacific Optics) then you have might just have something  :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wcat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 20:42
Like I said on the first post, I saw pictures, I don't own that scope.  I wanted to know if someone here knew about SS scopes being imported by another company else that SWFA at some time, somewhere...
Anyone?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote donlipa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 21:00
They were made by Tasco before being discontinued and bought by SWFA.  This was maybe 5 or 7 years ago something like that.  That scope you show is not a SS and I assume unless SWFA is licensing out the design (highly improbable) that is not made by the same company that makes super snipers.
I'm just another internet blowhard with too much time on my hands for the past couple weeks so take my comments with a grain of salt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Urimaginaryfrnd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 21:06
Like I said there are fake rolex watches out there too but it's not the same inside.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cyborg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/26/2009 at 23:32
Likely a cheap imitation. Chances are very good that it doesn't come anywhere close to the quality of the real SS.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rdsii64 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January/28/2009 at 21:59
The scope in the picture is a nikko sterling sniper scope. not a super sniper. They are no longer made. When they were being made, they were made in japan. Like many other companies before, nikko sterling use to make decent stuff. Then once they got their foot in the door, they shifted manufacturing to china. As as result, the quality wend to hell in a hand basket
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wcat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/07/2009 at 21:15
Well, I bought the scope, underneat it is stamped "Made in Japan", there is also a small round sticker written "Inpected by Asia Optical, Japan".
It seems very rugged, heavy.  Lenses are crystal clear and the image is very sharp at the indicated parallax setting.  I couldn't shoot with it yet, mounted it on my 700 SPS Tactical 308.
I put a target in the field just to check the reticle adjustements (can't shoot here, live in suburbs), they work very well and seems repeatable.
I think "rdsii64' hit the nail on the head (thanks for the info Sir).  I got a very good scope that *I think* is on par with the SS scopes for a VERY good price.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote donlipa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/08/2009 at 03:40
Well it sounds like you have a Super Sniper made by Nikko Stirling then, who would have thunk it.  I have no idea the details of how, but if a scope looks the same and is made by the same company then it is probably the same scope.  It would be interesting to hear the back story behind that.  Maybe they came out between the transition from Tasco to SWFA SS scopes.  You should post this in the rifle scope forum and see what people say.
I'm just another internet blowhard with too much time on my hands for the past couple weeks so take my comments with a grain of salt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RedRover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/11/2009 at 05:21

The Nikko Stirling ‘Sniper’ scopes (10X and 16X) came on the market in Australia, Britain, New Zealand (and probably a lot of other countries, too) in about 1996 or 97, a while after the Tasco ‘Super Sniper’ scopes came out.  I can’t remember the EXACT release dates of the two brands – I could probably find them if I tried hard enough, but they are not really significant. 

 

The ocular lens housing of the Tasco was fluted, while the Nikko was plain, and the brand markings were different – obviously – but apart from that, they were as alike as peas in a pod.  I understand that a scope looking physically identical to the Nikko ‘Sniper’ was sold in Britain under some other brand name which I cannot recall now.

 

In NZ, the Nikko scopes grabbed a much larger share of the market than the Tascos, and they became quite popular for ‘F’ class target shooting.  There are lots of them still in use here.  People who had used both the Tasco and the Nikko – including some very competent shooters – reckoned that performance-wise, there was absolutely nothing between them.  I have been using a couple of Nikko 16X jobs for some years now, and I have been happy with the performance of them.  The only person I know who has had trouble with one of them is a man who also seems to have frequent problems with his rifles, his ammo, his reloading gear, his cars – and so on, and so on.  Optically, the ‘Sniper’ scopes are certainly not equal to a Nightforce or a Leupold Mark 4, but at less than a quarter of the price, one could not really expect them to be …

 

It has been widely reported over the years that neither Tasco nor Nikko Stirling ever had factories of their own – their products were always made by others.  It would not surprise me in the least if both the Tasco ‘Super Sniper’ and Nikko ‘Sniper’ both came from the same plant in Japan.  Not long after Tasco brought out their TS series target scopes (fixed 24X44, 6-24X44, and 8-32X44) Nikko Stirling came out with their ‘Targetmaster’ series, which were physically identical, except for the markings on them, and both brands were marked as being made in Japan.  Same factory?  Seems quite likely.

 

About a year or two after Tasco went belly-up, both the Nikko ‘Sniper’ and ‘Targetmaster’ scopes became hard to obtain, new. (it may have been less than one year, or more than two – I never had any reason to establish an exact timeline) Rumour had it that production of them had ceased, and all that was left in the marketplace was what was on agents’ and dealers’ shelves.  That would be a strange coincidence if the two brands were actually being made by totally different companies.

 

Perhaps the people on this forum who stridently proclaim that the Nikko Stirling ‘Sniper’ is a grossly inferior, Chinese-made fake of the Tasco ‘Super Sniper’ or the SWFA ‘Super Sniper’ can tell us where they are getting their information from?  Do they actually have any first-hand experience with them?  Perhaps they could also tell us how ANY article which has its own brand name clearly marked on it can be described as a fake copy of some other brand?                                

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cyborg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/11/2009 at 12:44
The simple fact that there are always going to be knock offs on something that is popular. The fact that outsourcing of manufacture will always have the effect of a company doing the manufacture to sell a simialar product to another company. The fact that there are always going to be some proprietary components, that is the real "Devil in the details" This is why which ever company the design was first made for is usually (not always) the better, and anything coming afterward which looks the same is going to be labeled a clone, fake or imitation. Tasco had a few military contracts. I'm unsure if Nikko did or did not. I can also feel rather safe in the assumption that the two scopes while looking very simiialar are completely different inside component or material wise. The chances that any company would leave itself wide open for a competitor to almost exactly mock one of their own marketed scopes with out compensation is highly unlikely. Now in these days, it isn't the out sourcing manufacturer doing the dirty deeds, it is that other comapnies are flat out copying and selling a fake, even to the extent of using another companies name, or even their trademarked product. Leupold and Bushnell come to mind immediately as having been the victims of such activity.
The bottom line is this, if something isn't the "original" it is a knock off.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RedRover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/12/2009 at 05:07

Well, Cyborg, despite your repeated use of the word ‘fact’, your posting contains very, VERY few facts – mostly just suppositions and unsubstantiated personal opinions.  I might find then a bit more convincing if you answer the following questions:

 

What factory were the Tasco Super Sniper scopes made in, and when did they commence production?

 

What factory were the Nikko Stirling Sniper scopes made in?

(you could include the Tasco TS series scopes and the Nikko Stirling Targetmaster scopes in the above questions, too, as they seem to have very similar histories)

 

What substantive evidence do you have that the Nikko Stirling Sniper is of inferior design and construction, and is made of inferior materials? (compared to the Tasco SS)

 

What substantive evidence do you have that the performance and durability of Nikko Stirling Sniper is inferior to the Tasco SS?

 

Have you ever done a side-by-side comparison of the Nikko Stirling Sniper and the Tasco SS?

 

I am very sceptical of your implication that Nikko Stirling would have considered it worthwhile to have some factory meticulously copy the look and feel of the Tasco SS  (right down to the somewhat mushy feel of the adjustments) in order to cash in on its alleged great popularity, and then have their own brand name prominently embossed on it. (and put cheap, junky parts inside it)  

 

In the shooting circles I have moved in, over a period of some decades, Tasco scopes, binoculars,  etc, have generally been regarded as pretty average sort of stuff.  Depending on individual experiences, some people will say it is a bit above average while others will say that it is well below.  What marketing gurus, in their right mind, would think that a down-scale clone of something of a brand with that sort of reputation would be a big hit in the market place?

 

If you are going to copy the look and feel of an existing product (though not the internals) you might as well copy something from the higher end of the market, not the middle or the lower end.  Can anyone imagine a new car salesman proudly telling a customer that his company’s latest and greatest new car is indistinguishable from, say, a Skoda?  Many customers would be out the door within seconds of hearing that!              

 

I will be interested to see your response.  In the meantime, hordes of us in my part of the world will go on using our Nikko Stirling Sniper scopes, reasonably happy with their performance, and satisfied that they represented fair value for money.  We couldn’t go out and buy Tasco SS scopes to replace them, even if we wanted to, because as you are well aware, they are no longer made. (and they were rarely seen in NZ, nor in Australia, I believe, when they were in production)  Nor could many of us replace them with SWFA Super Sniper scopes, because last time I looked, SWFA were stating they would not deal with customers outside the US.            

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cyborg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/12/2009 at 12:36
I sense you are intentionally trying to start a pissing contest. I have given intentionally vague facts. If you so wish to learn more you will have do so on your own merits. No one here is going to give up information beyond the already known facts. you may continue to try and beat it out of any of us. It will not work. Read again what I posted, and use a bit of sense, it will make plenty of it at that time.
 
Fact is that the MANUFACTURER is contracted to make the scopes, they also make scopes for other companies that contract with them. With this in mind. Would you as a business man want to do business with a manufacturer that is going to then sell to another business man the very same thing that you are contracted with them to manufacture. The short answer is NO. If you are a shrewd business man you certainly would not. Manufacturers make products to sell to marketers in this particular instance the Sniper and Super Sniper scopes. Each is built according to the marketers specs, by a signed contract with the manufacturer. Do you understand? Just simply being made in the same plant does not make them EQUAL. That is a feel good about what you have OPINION. An understanding of product protection by means of contract is standard business practice. That means PROPRIETARY components will be used in one vs the other. Can you understand that? This is purely repeating exactly what I said earlier in case you missed it in your hast to try and call me out. I have no experience with the Nikko. I do however have experience with the Tasco, and the SWFA Super Sniper. You do not as you have admitted. Now before you say anything else to lend others the thought that you are posting in an overly emotional feel good plea to justify your position. I would suggest that you do a bit of GOOGLING as the answers that you seek are easily found with a bit of research. To include Military Contracts, Country of origin, as well as which one is actually better. SEARCH it out. You will find it, and then perhaps we can have a civilized discussion.
Take care friend.   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dav619 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/13/2009 at 05:19
Nikko Sniper 10x42
Edgar Brothers / Opti-mate Sniper 10x42 (UK)
Lynx Sniper 10x42 (South Africa / Australia)
Tasco Sniper 10x42
SWFA Sniper 10x42
 
Same product. Same manufacturers. Different brand names. Fact.
 
They have been tweaked and updated over the years but they are all pretty much the same.
 
I think the SWFA and Edgar Brothers are the only models still produced. In terms of optical standard, quality of exterior finish and weight then both scopes are identical.
 
Hope that clears that one up.
 
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RedRover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February/13/2009 at 16:49

My interest in the differences (if any) between the Nikko Stirling Sniper and the Tasco SS is largely academic, as I already have the scopes I want.  However, such information could be of more practical use to somebody like the person who started this thread, who was considering making a purchase.  It looks like it is not going to be found around here, though.

 

Cyborg, I am not interested in engaging in a pissing contest with you, or continuing this pointless discussion of the subject with you.  I hope your ‘I know but I am not going to tell you’ line of reply gives you a nice warm feeling of superiority – it does not impress me one iota.

 

Dav619 – I hope you have a flameproof suit handy.  You might need it after making statements like yours on this forum. (even if they are true ….)      

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